DOI: 10.21276/sjet.2016.4.7.2

Pages: 301-307

This paper presents numerical simulations to compute the aerodynamic load on protuberance for a typical launch vehicle. Surface pressure coefficients over the satellite launch vehicle are computed by solving axisymmetric time-dependent compressible Euler equations. The governing fluid flow equations are discretized in spatial coordinates employing a finite volume approach, which reduces the equations to semi-discretized ordinary differential equations. Temporal integration is performed using multi-stage Runge-Kutta time stepping scheme. A local time-step is used to achieve steady state solution. The novelty of the current numerical scheme is to block the grid corresponding to the protuberance. The entire flow field around the protuberance is analyzed with the help of Mach contour plots. The numerical scheme captures all the essential flow field features of high speed flow such as a shock wave in front of the protuberance and expansion fan on the shoulder and wake flow behind the protuberance. The numerical results are validated with experimental data in heat shield region of the launch vehicle for free stream Mach number 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0. The pressure distributions on the protuberance are required to maintain the structural integrity of the launch vehicle.